Tag Archives: Horsecar

Early streetcars had horsepower, literally; they were drawn by horses or mules and called “horsecars.” By the late 1880s, there were 415 street railway companies in the US. However, horses could only work for about four hours a day and needed to be groomed, fed, and housed—and they left behind tremendous amounts of waste. These issues, coupled with the introduction of the overhead trolley system in 1887, spelled the end of the horsecar era. Where was the last functional horsecar in the US? More…Discuss